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Tech-exec moms spark firestorm

It’s in that context Mayer is pushing the importance of the real-time workplace dynamic. And she appears to have consulted data first, according to one recent report in Business Insider, which quotes a Yahoo source saying Mayer made the decision after reviewing how often remote workers were logging into the corporate network.

Many business leaders believe too much physical distance can harm teamwork and collective innovation. Mayer’s struggling company, for which she is the fifth chief executive in five years, issued a statement insisting that it isn’t trying to set the tone for the whole industry. Rather, “this is about what is right for Yahoo right now,” the statement said.

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Regardless, the announcement spawned a billboard in San Francisco from a video conferencing firm that reads, “Call us Marissa, we can help.” In a blog post, the company, Blue Jeans Network, wrote, “What’s right for Yahoo … is against almost every workforce trend.” British billionaire Richard Branson also attacked the Yahoo move, tweeting, “Give people the freedom of where to work & they will excel.”

And former Vermont Gov. Madeleine Kunin weighed in, telling POLITICO that she’s bothered by the “all or nothing” aspect to the edict.

“I could understand if you can only work at home a certain number of days,” Kunin said. “But the decision not to allow telecommuting is highly disturbing to many families. The reasoning is questionable. … Telecommuting has proven to be good for the cooperation. I don’t think it’s an either/or choice.”

Still, Mayer has her defenders, including Fiorina and Ellen Siminoff, a founding Yahoo executive, both of whom say the decision ought to be about the company, not how a choice might affect people of a certain gender.

“It was Marissa’s call,” said Siminoff, now chief executive officer of the educational website Shmoop. “She made the right call for her company.”

Mayer, of course, isn’t the only powerful Silicon Valley woman executive under fire. Just 10 miles northwest of Yahoo’s Sunnyvale headquarters in Menlo Park, Facebook’s Sandberg is fielding a similar array of cheers and jeers.

Sandberg’s book is a written version of a thesis she has asserted in public speeches: Women are not as aggressive as their male colleagues at seeking jobs, negotiating pay and selling themselves. She acknowledges the workplace isn’t fair, but she thinks women can do better to thrive amid often rough corporate waters.